Speaking of Art with Katherine Baltivik

Speaking of Art with Katherine Baltivik
2015/09/21
By M.Sebastian Araujo

Sometimes it takes a journey to find ourselves.Once we do, we blossom and become something totally different than we set out to be…Recently I had a chance to chat with Artist and Art Entrepreneur Katherine Baltivik about her life and Art!

What in the world around you affects your creative process?

Creativity is the flow of energy and mine comes from the intimate physical world around me and my friends. Color is my major form of communication. Color is energy and I want others to “feel” what I do though that form of visual communication. I see everything as interwoven and connected

Has technology changed the Ptown “Art Scene” much?

Most of the world has changed with technology and the “art scene” here is not immune to those changes. The days when young artists would walk down to the pier and have the Portuguese fishermen throw them a fish for dinner have vanished. The personal interchanges about art have diminished to be replaced with social media, blogs, websites, and “chats”. All of these avenues are neither “good or bad”, just different. The art world in Provincetown has simply mutated into the 21st century.

What in our daily effects your Art?

My inspiration comes comes from the energy from people to whom I am connected and the color that surrounds me I live on the top of a dune overlooking Quaking Bog. There are no curtains on my house and the blinds a never down. The inspiration is there for me when I want it

What makes people collect Art?

I’ve owned The Charles-Baltivik Gallery for 20 years and still can’t answer what makes “art sell” as a general statement. My answer is only in personal connections The people who come into my gallery to really look at art are special to me. I firmly believe that my connection to them as the artist is what makes my work sell. When they buy a piece of mine, they are buying a piece of my life and the time that I used from that life to create it. I love what I do and want them to love it too.

Was there a “shining lightbulb” moment in your life when you realized that you were an artist?

Sorry no shining light bulb existed for me. I have a gift. I always knew and could always create. The hardest part in developing the talent I was given was not allowing myself to be inner directed instead relying on the opinions of others.

Here is a story unique to me. When I was in college I was an English major. I decided one day I wanted to change that major to art. A quick trip to the guidance office to institute that change was promptly halted by my adviser who told me I “had to be talented to be an art major” and that I “was better off staying in English”.The sad ending here was I did.Today would have been a different ending to that story. It’s hard if you follow the directions of others; it’s quite easy if you follow yourself.

What is it about Ptown that keeps you and other creative people living there or coming back ?

I came to Provincetown 40 years ago for a visit. I knew then I would be back when the time was right for me. Everything that I wanted was here I didn’t just want to be another painter….I wanted everything- my life, art, civic involvement, interconnecting involvement with everything in my life.I paint Provincetown. I want to be part of the line of artists who have come before me and will continue to paint and create after me.

Creativity is alive and well in Ptown…Katherine’s tale is one of many who have washed ashore on this special beach front , deciding to stay and continue the creative magic of this amazing place now and into the future…We all owe her and so many Artists a debt of gratitude for doing their bit to help the creative vibes emanate out into the world from a very special place that we all feel deep in our souls,whether for a day or a week or a lifetime.